


Silver Lining

by Spoony



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: First Meeting, M/M, Modern AU, Neighbours AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-24
Updated: 2014-10-24
Packaged: 2018-02-22 11:42:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2506541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spoony/pseuds/Spoony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi talks to his neighbour for the first time. At 3 A.M. with a fire alarm blaring in the background.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silver Lining

**Author's Note:**

> There was a prompr-ish post on tumblr and I figured it'd be fun to try. Sorry if there are any mistakes.

_Every cloud has a silver lining,_ Levi decided as he prepared to get comfortable in the dark backyard. The night was filled with chatter, the voices ranging from annoyed to outright terrified (little children who had never experienced a fire alarm before). The high pitched ringing was still audible from inside the apartment complex; Levi figured only the fire department guys could turn it off and they hadn't shown up yet.

It was sometime around 3 A.M. so most people had been fast asleep when the alarm went off. Levi hadn't, which he had lamented until this rather unexpected turn of events. Upon hearing the alarm, he hadn't rushed outside to the gathering spot like he was supposed to. Instead he'd thought _fuck the rules_ and taken his time to grab a coat and a warm patched quilt as well as mittens just in case, after all he had no idea how long it would take before he could come back in. 

It was thanks to his hellish workload that he now stood outside completely warm and comfortable, unlike most of the other people of the apartment complex. Many had evidently not even thought about the weather outside in their rush, and thus were now standing in the cold in just their pajamas. Or, in Levi's neighbour's case, just their underwear.

The poor guy looked like he was freezing. No surprise there, it was mid-October. Levi felt sorry for him, but couldn't help but appreciate the view. He guessed the guy was in his early twenties, he was slightly taller than average, had a nicely toned body and tousled brown hair, and the most brilliant amber eyes. Said eyes were now downcast, possibly out of embarrasment after the initial shock of being wrung out of bed at this ungodly hour had subsided. 

Levi strained his ears but couldn't yet pick out any sounds that would have indicated firetrucks were heading their way. It would still take time before anyone would be let back inside, even though no smoke or flames were visible. He sighed and unwrapped himself from the warm confines of his quilt.  
He walked up to his neighbour who was now rubbing his arms in a desperate attempt to stay warm.

"Hey." Levi had attempted to sound as friendly as possible, but the guy cringed nonetheless. Maybe it was just that he felt vulnerable in just his grey briefs. Levi held out the quilt and the other looked up, first quizically and then with just the slightest twinkle of hope in those brilliant amber eyes.

"You look like you need this more than me," Levi said quietly, he felt sorry for the guy and didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to him. He couldn't help but smile as he watched the guy's face start to practically glow as he reached out with trembling hands and took the quilt and _oh god, he's not going to cry, is he?_

"Thank you", the guy whispered and wrapped the quilt around his shoulders. Levi couldn't help but find the sight before him adorable. It wasn't every day he got to admire a practically naked, good looking, upon further examination slightly tanned guy huddling in a patched quilt with a slight smile on his perfectly curved, well proportioned lips, and he really needed to stop staring. They stood quietly for a while and Levi put his mittens on since the fire department was still showing no sign of arrival.

"Sorry."

The whisper was so quiet Levi wondered if he'd just imagined it. He looked over to his neighbour and found the amber eyes firmly fixated on his face, albeit looking a little worried for some reason. His confusion must have shown, because the other rushed to explain himself.

"I kind of... always thought you were a really unfriendly scary guy. So I'm sorry for misjudging you without even bothering to get to know you."

Levi's eyebrows shot up. It was true that with his recent workload he'd walked around scowling with bags under his eyes so it was no wonder he'd come accross as unfriendly, but he'd never had anyone apologize for misjudging him before. His neighbour was finally looking away, clearly awkward about the whole thing so Levi looked away as well. 

"Nah, it's... okay. I mean, I haven't really done anything to contradict that assumption, so it's only natural..." Dammit, he was rambling, wasn't he? Well, at least his neighbour looked relieved. Silence fell upon them again as they both heard the sound of sirens getting progressively closer.

"About damn time", Levi's neighbour laughed. He was gripping the quilt so tightly Levi was amazed it wasn't suffocating him. 

"Yeah. Bet it's even a false alarm, we should've seen smoke by now if something was actually burning." 

"Yeah... hey, I never got around to asking, but what's your name?" Those amber eyes found their way back to Levi's face, this time twinkling with anticipation. Levi couldn't help but find them endearing. 

"It's Levi."

"Well, nice to meet you, Levi. I'm Eren."

Levi hmphed in response. _Eren, huh._ He figured it was foreign, but couldn't really say which part of the world since Eren's lack of accent gave nothing away. He wondered if he should question about it, but decided not to. He had the feeling it could easily come off as rude or intruding. 

"Turkish."

Levi's eyebrows shot up again. Eren was looking at him with a smile playing on his lips. Levi was ninety percent sure he hadn't shown any particular emotion on his face, so Eren must have been asked about the origin of his name a lot.

"That's... exotic." Levi mentally slapped himself. Didn't he have anything better, maybe more intelligent to say? Eren just chuckled.

"Yeah, I get that a lot. My mom's turkish and she wanted to honour her heritage."

"It's nice though. Not too mainstream but easy to pronounce." This time Eren let out a real laugh. Levi really liked the sound of Eren laughing. There was a strange musical quality to it that he just couldn't get enough of.

"Oh look", Eren said suddenly, pointing towards the road. "The cavalry's finally here." Levi followed Eren's finger and saw that he was right, the bright lights of a firetruck were twinkling on the wall of the apartment complex and soon the truck itself came into view. The sound of the sirens had become almost overwhelming to Levi's sleep deprived brain and he fought the urge to cover his ears with his hands.

"Jesus, I bet they've woken up the whole damn block!"

Eren laughed again. He was failing at his attempt to cover his ears without raising the quilt to expose his briefs. Levi rolled his eyes and without thinking it through placed his hands on either side of the younger man's head (did Eren have to be so tall?). He felt Eren twitch slightly upon contact but couldn't see his expression. Levi was already regretting doing it when he felt Eren squirm against his hands and let out something between a laugh and a yelp.

"L-levi, mittens!"

 _Oh,_ Levi realized. Eren must be ticklish. He smiled mischeviously and bent Eren's head back a bit to make it easier for him to shift his hands. Eren yelped again and squirmed some more, but all his attempts at resistance were futile. That is, until he stopped fighting against Levi's grip and opted for bending all the way to reach Levi's shoulder. Up close Levi could see that Eren's eyes were actually a mixture of two shades of brown - the reason they looked like jewels were the lighter rings around his pupils. The sudden proximity took Levi by surprise and caused him to let go.

Eren laughed again as he straightened his back. "Oh man, I need to do some stretching, I swear I heard some joints snap."

Levi rolled his eyes. He was actually a lot more flustered by the sudden, albeit shortlived, proximity than he would have cared to admit. "You young people spend too much time slouching in front of televisions and computers."

Eren stuck his tongue out at him. "At least I'm not developing wrinkles."

"I do not have wrinkles!"

They continued their friendly bickering without even realizing that both the firetruck sirens and fire alarm had been turned off until one of the firefighters appeared to declare that it had indeed been a false alarm. People started filing back inside and the chatter subsided to occasional "well no shit"s and "thank god it's Sunday"s. Levi pushed Eren into the crowd, determined to get him out of the cold as soon as possible. He knew Eren was freezing despite the quilt even though the younger man had done his best to hide his shivering. 

As they reached their landing, Eren let out a huge sneeze. Levi looked at him and noticed for the first time that his lips were turning blue. 

"Okay, you're obviously freezing. Go put some warm clothes on and I'll make you tea."

Eren blushed and looked away. He didn't go to his door and started fidgeting when Levi looked at him quizically.

"I... I, uh..." He mumbled something inaudible. As it became clear Levi hadn't heard what he'd said, he cleared his throat, squeezed the quilt a bit tighter and blushed even brighter. "I forgot to grab my keys."

Levi looked at him incredulously, then shook his head. He felt stupid for not realizing something so obvious in the first place. He fished his keys out of his coat pocket and opened the door to his apartment wide.

"Come on." Eren looked up at Levi, then at the open door, and again at Levi. Levi couldn't help but sigh. "I'm not going to let you freeze your ass in the hallway, so get in. I'm not saying this twice."

Eren's face lit up as he stumbled into the apartment. Levi made his way in as well and closed the door. Eren had stopped in the middle of the living room looking very much lost. Levi caught himself thinking that he wouldn't mind seeing that more frequently.

"Why don't you go take a hot shower? I'll get you a towel and something to wear, though all my clothes are probably too small for you." He showed Eren to the bathroom and found an unused towel and a sweatshirt and pants that were too big for him and laid them out for Eren. Then he made his way to the kitchenette to prepare the tea.

Eren emerged from the shower in less than ten minutes, possibly lured by the promise of a warm drink. The clothes were a size too small for him, but he didn't seem to mind. Levi had never understood why people liked to see their lovers wearing their clothes, but it was slowly starting to dawn on him. Except that he and Eren had only properly met that night and were definitely not lovers. He mentally shook himself and offered Eren a cup of peppermint tea.

Eren sniffed at his tea and took a sip. "Don't suppose you have any sugar?"

Levi's eyes widened in disbelief. He launched into a heated lecture on how sugar had no place in peppermint tea until Eren held out his free hand in defeat. They moved onto the sofa and talked about unimportant things until Levi was overcome with fatigue.

And that is how he ended up waking up in the morning wrapped in his neighbours arms under a patched quilt.


End file.
